Autonomous vehicles may be used to navigate land, bodies of water, or airspace. Some examples of autonomous vehicles include, but are not limited to, automobiles, motorized bicycles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), aircraft operated during ground control, motorboats, or even industrial vehicles such as forklifts that are used on a factory floor. An autonomous vehicle navigates a roadway or other environment with either limited or no input at all from a driver. Autonomous vehicles include numerous sensors that collect information about various stationary and moving objects in the vicinity of the autonomous vehicle such as, for example, other vehicles or pedestrians. A trajectory for the autonomous vehicle to follow may be determined based on the information collected by the sensors. For example, the sensors may indicate that the autonomous vehicle is approaching an obstacle. Accordingly, the vehicle navigates itself around the obstacle. Autonomous vehicles may also utilize other sensing modalities, such as, for example, cameras, thermal cameras, ultrasonic devices, and radar devices, to detect obstacles and localize the vehicles in their operating environment.
Various environmental conditions and situations exist that tend to reduce the effective range of the sensors, cameras, and radars. For instance, cameras provide visual information, but require software that is sometimes prone to errors when interpreting data. Furthermore, radars such as Light/Laser Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) provide proximity information, but have limitations with their line-of-sight. Current sensor technology is also line-of-sight limited, thus requiring interpreted observation before action can be determined. Accordingly, it may be difficult for a vehicle to detect crucial incidents such as emergency braking, flat tires, or pedestrian traffic flow interference that are not within the line-of-sight of a sensor, radar, or camera. Furthermore, if there are multiple vehicles within the vicinity, then the sensor, radar, or camera may only be able to detect incidents that occur within the line-of-sight or within an immediate distance of the autonomous vehicle.